{"id":38618,"date":"2022-08-28T09:23:56","date_gmt":"2022-08-28T13:23:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/?p=38618"},"modified":"2022-08-28T09:23:56","modified_gmt":"2022-08-28T13:23:56","slug":"it-was-strawbridge-clothier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2022\/08\/28\/it-was-strawbridge-clothier\/","title":{"rendered":"It was Strawbridge &#038; Clothier"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"Strawbridge &amp; Clothier\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/willceau\/52316960254\/in\/dateposted-public\/\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52316960254_f32b622c07_z.jpg?resize=640%2C480&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Strawbridge &amp; Clothier\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>This was one of Philadelphia&#8217;s premier department stores. It has sadly gone out of business along with the rest of the retail chain. Tina and I and everybody I know who lives in Philadelphia shopped here. They had everything &#8212; clothes, beds, televisions, you name it. That is where shopping was done. Mail order was for farmers and cranks. If you needed something, you had to go to 8th and Market and take the endless escalators up and up to the floor you were looking for. Some of the floors were bustling like the clothing departments. Others were as quiet as a cathedral between services. I remember the bedding department being eerily dark and silent except for the mechanical sounds of the escalators constantly clanking.<\/p>\n<p>No place was better than <em>Strawbridge&#8217;s<\/em> at Christmas time. <em>Wanamaker&#8217;s<\/em> may have had the light show and the pipe organ playing holiday favorites, but Strawbridge&#8217;s had fantastic window displays and sold the greatest selection of Christmas ornaments I have ever encountered. We bought several from Strawbridge&#8217;s that we still treasure. Somehow Christmas hasn&#8217;t been the same without them.<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, the building still stands despite an ongoing orgy of urban renewal or whatever euphemism these cruel Visigoths are using. Good taste triumphed and this glorious treasure has not fallen to the wrecking ball.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This was one of Philadelphia&#8217;s premier department stores. It has sadly gone out of business along with the rest of the retail chain. Tina and I and everybody I know who lives in Philadelphia shopped here. They had everything &#8212; &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2022\/08\/28\/it-was-strawbridge-clothier\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[104],"tags":[476,280,354,3669,477],"class_list":["post-38618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-philadelphia","tag-city","tag-market-street","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-urban"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1ed1x-a2S","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":45302,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2025\/07\/06\/sunflowers-in-south-philadelphia\/","url_meta":{"origin":38618,"position":0},"title":"Sunflowers in South Philadelphia","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"July 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Springing up along a utility pole outside of the Italian Market","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Italian Market&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Italian Market","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/italian-market\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sunflowers in South Philadelphia","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54637063153_55daf592a9_c.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54637063153_55daf592a9_c.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54637063153_55daf592a9_c.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54637063153_55daf592a9_c.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":22705,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2017\/10\/10\/philadelphia-the-great-experiment\/","url_meta":{"origin":38618,"position":1},"title":"Philadelphia: The Great Experiment","author":"Tina Garceau","date":"October 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"An ongoing television documentary series on the history of\u00a0Philadelphia was being filmed on 9th Street on Monday. Pictured above is actress Olivia Phillips, who portrays one of the period shoppers in the market. SaveSave SaveSaveSaveSave SaveSave SaveSave SaveSave","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Italian Market&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Italian Market","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/italian-market\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/PhilaExp3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/PhilaExp3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/PhilaExp3.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":24794,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2018\/12\/21\/truck-mascots-the-holiday-edition\/","url_meta":{"origin":38618,"position":2},"title":"Truck Mascots &#8211; The Holiday Edition","author":"Tina Garceau","date":"December 21, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The Philadelphia Fire Department gets into the spirit!","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Holiday&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Holiday","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/holiday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/PFD.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/PFD.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/PFD.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":37607,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2022\/05\/21\/the-italian-market-festival-2022\/","url_meta":{"origin":38618,"position":3},"title":"The Italian Market Festival 2022","author":"Joe","date":"May 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"After two years, The Italian Market Festival is back! Today was the first day, and it continues on into tomorrow. If you're in the area, check it out!","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Italian Market&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Italian Market","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/italian-market\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Italian Market Festival 2022","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52090164375_9114a70eec_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52090164375_9114a70eec_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52090164375_9114a70eec_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8183,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2012\/05\/26\/rules-stand\/","url_meta":{"origin":38618,"position":4},"title":"Rules of the Stand","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"May 26, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a handmade sign hung outside of a stand in the Italian Market in South Philadelphia. The market and the characters that work and shop there are among the reasons why I love this town.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Philadelphia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Philadelphia","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/philadelphia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rules of the Stand","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.staticflickr.com\/3058\/2730212922_bda752e39c_o.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.staticflickr.com\/3058\/2730212922_bda752e39c_o.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.staticflickr.com\/3058\/2730212922_bda752e39c_o.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":23258,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2018\/02\/04\/philadelphia-eagles-9th-street-loves-you\/","url_meta":{"origin":38618,"position":5},"title":"Philadelphia Eagles &#8211; 9th Street Loves You!","author":"Tina Garceau","date":"February 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The best of luck to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII!!!\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 SaveSave","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Italian Market&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Italian Market","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/italian-market\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/E-Pies.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/E-Pies.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/E-Pies.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38618\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}